LUKE’S LOVE QUEST COULD AID QUAKERS
DARLINGTON boss Alun Armstrong says he’ll be keeping one eye on Luke Trotman’s blossoming reality TV career – but won’t let it derail the Quakers’ playoff charge.
Trotman is sidelined for the rest of the season with an Achilles tendon injury but has used his recovery time wisely by stepping up his quest to find love on the ITV show Love Island.
Trotman has been a huge hit in the villa but boss Armstrong jokes that the England C ace will undoubtedly cop some stick in the Quakers’ dressing room on his return to the UK.
But, according to former Blyth Spartans boss Armstrong, that camaraderiecan only add to the club’s push for a National League North play-off place.
“Luke’s a good kid – I’ve been watching him on Love Island,” he told The NLP with the club five points off the pace before yesterday.
“I wish him good luck as these opportunities don’t come around too often. I’m sure he’ll be getting some stick off the rest of the lads when he’s finished on the show, but it’s all light-hearted fun and as long as he represents the club well, which I’m sure he will, he’ll be fine.
“We had a terrible start to the season with injuries, but we’ve got lads coming back now and realistically we have to be looking at the play-offs.
“We all have to be aiming for this and we are in that top 10 pack and any of those teams could make the play-offs come the end of the season. It’s amazing how if you put a run together, and then all of a sudden you are in there.”
Armstrong, however, was left furious after last weekend’s 3-0 defeat at Chester and warns that such performances must be eradicated if the Quakers are to seal their top-flight return.
“You’ve got to keep the lads’ heads up but at the same time you have to tell them that this is unacceptable,” he added.
“If we do manage to get where we want to be, then poor performances like we had at Chester have to disappear quickly.”